Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, on Nov. 6, 2023. Photo by Rachel Wisniewski/Bloomberg via Getty Images

By Jacob Kornbluh May 12, 2024

Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware and a close ally of President Joe Biden, on Sunday strongly defended the administration’s warning that it would withhold sending some offensive weapons if Israel launches an all-out assault on populated areas in Rafah.

“I’ll remind you, other American presidents have done the same thing when a close, trusted partner isn’t listening to private admonitions,” Coons said on ABC News’ This Week program. He referenced former President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, who “repeatedly” delayed the shipment of F-16 fighter-bombers to Israel during his first term over disagreements about the strike on an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 and the prolonged first Lebanon War. 

Coons, who serves as co-chair of Biden’s reelection campaign and has maintained strong ties with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, said Biden will follow through with his threat to ban offensive weapons if Israel invades Gaza’s southern city of Rafah without coordination with the U.S. Biden’s warning was met with broad criticism from members of Congress and mainstream Jewish groups. 

”I think we will act,” Coons said. “I think whatever munitions, such as the 2,000-pound bombs that have previously been used in Gaza, that are supplied only by the United States, and that can cause massive civilian casualties may well be paused.” 

The senator challenged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to consider his legacy and opt for a path that leads to regional security and peace, rather than risking a fracture in the U.S.-Israel relationship. “Right now his legacy is the huge, strategic and defensive failure of Oct. 7th and his legacy could be a real gap — a break in the long, strong, bipartisan, strategic relationship between the U.S. and Israel,” he said. “I think that would be tragic.” 

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, demurred when asked on NBC News’
Meet the Press about Reagan using U.S. military aid as leverage as a way to rein in Israel. “When you’re telling the world you’re going to restrict weapons delivery to the Jewish state who’s fighting a three-front war for their survival, it emboldens Iran, it emboldens Hamas,” he said. 

Graham compared Israel’s desire to enter Rafah to eradicate the remaining Hamas battalions and its leadership to the American use of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to achieve victory in World War II. “That was the right decision,” he said. “Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war they can’t afford to lose and work with them to minimize casualties.” 

Former President Donald Trump, speaking Saturday at a campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, called Biden’s decision to halt arms to Israel while there are still American hostages being held by Hamas “the worst betrayal of an American ally” in U.S. history. 

“I support Israel’s right to win its war on terror,” Trump said. “I don’t know if that’s good or bad politically. I don’t care. You got to do what’s right.”

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